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Five Minutes in the John. Chapter Six. Final Thoughts

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 "The act of meditation is being spacious.” – Sogyal Rinpoche Let's review. We are invited to sit in meditation for 15-20 minutes a day for a committed period of time like a month. We are keeping it simple with the 1-2-3 method. Sit. Breathe. Stay. We have reviewed the benefits and the obstacles. All is in order. Maybe I am the only one, but I wonder how meditating started. When did people first sit and why? What were they hoping for? It is speculated that meditation practice may be as old as humanity itself. I imagine early man staring into a fire or up at the stars in the sky. No internet. No TV. No books. So contemplation was basically part of life. You hunted, foraged, ate and sat around the fire until you slept. As life became more organized and less nomadic, spiritual thought and practices developed. India has the oldest written information about meditation, followed by China. No one really knows for sure when it started or why, but we do know this: it offers something ...

Five Minutes in the John. Chapter Five: Why Don't We Do It?

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A most useful approach to meditation practice is to consider it the most important activity of  each day. Schedule it as you would an extremely important appointment, and unfailingly keep your appointment with the infinite."                                               – Roy Eugene Davis We know what's good for us, yet human nature takes a rather lackadaisical approach to good practices. We floss and then we don't. We go to the gym and then take a break. Sometimes it is only when we give something up that we discover how much we need it. That is good to know and can tip us over from "I should" to "I want to". When I surveyed clients about meditation there were basically two reasons why they didn't sit. Lack of time and a potpourri of excuses including “I can’t”...

Five Minutes in the John. Chapter Four: Why bother?

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  Personal transformation created through meaningful inner experience, might be the greatest benefit meditation offers. --Said by Me This is the part where I preach the virtues of meditation. Brace yourself. As an energy medicine practitioner with almost 30 years of experience working with clients, I see how meditation supports my clients. Healing is an inside job, and the more time we can spend being with ourselves without distraction, the greater is our opportunity to access awareness for change. You can only change what you are aware of. It doesn’t matter how much a therapist or healer knows about us, change only happens when the light goes on in our own consciousness Those who are serious about transforming their lives can do so with greater ease and grace if they have a meditation practice. The ah-ha that comes from finding meaning in connecting the dots of repeating but confusing life patterns, happens more often with meditators. According to Bruce Lipton, biologi...

Five Minutes in the John. Chapter Three: Now What Happens?

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  Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.                                                   - Jiddu Krishnamurti   Ok, we are sitting. Our tush is on the cush. Now what? The number one reason we quit meditation is because it does not meet our expectations and we think we are doing it wrong. No one likes feeling incompetent, so we stop sitting. The ONLY way we can fail is if we do not do it. Jimi Hendrix didn’t become a fantastic guitar player by wishing he could play better. He practiced! And that is exactly what we are going to do, just like we are preparing for Woodstock! How long do we sit? Start with 15 minutes. At first that will probably end up being 5 minutes settling in, 5 minutes meditating and 5 minutes wondering what t...

Five Minutes in the John. Chapter Two: Easy as 1-2-3

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  Mindfulness is often spoken of as the heart of Buddhist meditation. It is not about Buddhism, but about paying attention. That’s what all meditation is, no matter what tradition or particular technique is used.                                                                                                        - Jon Kabat-Zinn When it comes to meditating I am a purist, keeping it simple and focused. No music. No guided imagery. Just me and my breath. 1. Sit some where... This isn't real estate so location is really what ever works best for you and I have some suggestions. A room, a corner in a room or a chair can be a meditation nest as long as you are comfortable and won’t be disturbed . You want a ...

Five Minutes in the John. A Simple Meditation Guide

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“Nothing goes right on the outside when nothing is going right on the inside.”    --Matthieu Ricard                                                                                                  Introduction I have almost thirty years of experience as an energy medicine practitioner and I have seen how meditation supports deepening self-awareness, transformation and healing. I suggest meditation to every new client because it is one simple practice that requires no equipment, can be done anywhere fo...